With a place in the league phase on the line, Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih and Real Betis will kick off their Europa Conference League playoff-round tie on Thursday in Kosice.
Both teams enter qualifying at this stage and will bid to punch their ticket into Europe's tertiary competition, with the Ukrainian outfit having dropped out of Europa League qualifying in the third round.
Match preview
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Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih will kick off their bid to reach a main European competition for the first time in their history on Thursday, having dropped into Europa Conference League qualifying within one tie of the league phase following a defeat in the running for the continent's secondary competition earlier this month.
They earned their first-ever Europa League qualifying spot thanks to a third-placed finish in the Ukrainian Premier League last time around, having earned 57 points from their 30 outings, 12 behind second-placed Dynamo Kiev and 14 behind winners Shakhtar Donetsk.
That set up a third-round tie with Czech outfit Viktoria Plzen, needing two aggregate wins to reach the league phase, but Yuriy Vernydub's side failed to advance, initially suffering a 2-1 defeat on home turf despite going ahead through Prince Kwabena Adu, before Daniel Vasulin fired their opponents to a 1-0 win in the reverse fixture.
The Ukrainian outfit have since dropped into the Europa Conference League playoff round as a result and head back into continental action having put their third-round disappointment behind them with a domestic victory on Sunday, beating Veres Rivne 2-0 away from home thanks to goals from Adu and Tymur Stetskov to move onto six points from three top-flight outings.
Now within one tie of the league phase in Europe's tertiary competition, Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih will be keen to make a positive start on Thursday and gain an edge to take into next weekend's second leg in Spain.
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That will be no easy task, though, as their opponents bid to reach a main European competition for the fourth straight season.
Real Betis did bypass qualifying to join the Europa League group stage in each of their last three campaigns thanks to top-six finishes in La Liga, having reached the round of 16 in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons before dropping into the Europa Conference League knockout round playoffs last time around.
Los Verdiblancos met Croatian outfit Dinamo Zagreb at that stage and failed to book a spot in the final 16, succumbing to a 2-1 aggregate defeat having lost 1-0 in their home leg and only drawn 1-1 away despite leading through Cedric Bakambu.
Having then dropped to a seventh-placed finish in Spain's top flight last term, Manuel Pellegrini's side now find themselves in continental qualifying for the first time since 2013, and they head into Thursday's first leg on the back of a 1-1 draw with Girona in their La Liga curtain-raiser at the weekend, having gone ahead early through Marc Bartra before Gabriel Misehouy levelled the scores 18 minutes from time.
Aiming to continue their streak on the continent and reach the new-look league phase of Europe's tertiary competition, Real Betis will hope to make their quality count in the playoff, starting with a positive result in Kosice before welcoming Kryvbas Kryvyi to the Estadio Benito Villamarin next week.
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Team News
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Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih should field a very similar starting XI to the ones deployed away at Viktoria Plzen in their Europa League third-qualifying-round second leg and the weekend's 2-0 victory over Veres Rivne, having only made one change between those games.
Despite being sent off in their win on Sunday, centre-back Oleksandr Romanchuk will be available to play, with his suspension instead carrying over to their next domestic outing, and he should continue to join Tymur Stetskov at the heart of the defence with Yurii Vakulko and Djihad Bizimana remaining key men in front of the back four.
Prince Kwabena Adu will continue to lead the line after his goal last time out, while Oleg Kozhushko will also hope to earn a spot in the attack from the outset after netting a team-high tally of nine goals in 27 appearances last season.
Real Betis headed into the new season contending with several injury issues, and Nobel Mendy, Cedric Bakambu and key man Isco are set to remain sidelined for Thursday's game.
Manuel Pellegrini may opt to rotate his squad somewhat following their season-opening draw with Girona, with summer signings Ricardo Rodriguez and Natan likely to earn opportunities in the defence after fellow new arrivals Romain Perraud and Diego Llorente featured from the outset last Thursday.
Johnny Cardoso may come into the midfield from the start, while Abde Ezzalzouli, Assane Diao, Rodri and Ezequiel Avila will compete for attacking spots after Pablo Fornals, Nabil Fekir and Juanmi lined up in support of Aitor Ruibal against Girona.
Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih possible starting lineup:
Klishchuk; Poniedielnik, Romanchuk, Stetskov, Dibango; Bizimana, Vakulko; Kuzyk, Lunyov, Kozhushko; Adu
Real Betis possible starting lineup:
Silva; Bellerin, Llorente, Natan, Rodriguez; Roca, Cardoso; Ezzalzouli, Fekir, Fornals; Avila
We say: Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih 0-2 Real Betis
While Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih will be desperate to take an advantage into next week's second leg at the Estadio Benito Villamarin, we do not see them matching Real Betis' quality and see Pellegrini's men quickly gaining the edge in the playoff tie.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Sam Varley
